Comparing collaborative mechanisms in large-scale ecosystem governance

Collaborative approaches to environmental and natural resource management are on the rise in the United States. This article examines collaborative governance in four high-profile and large-scale ecosystems: the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's Fish and Wildlife Program in the Columbia River Basin, the Chesapeake Bay Program, the CALFED Bay-Delta Program in California's San Francisco Bay/ Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, and the Florida Everglades Restoration Program. We compare the governance structures of these four institutional arrangements by examining how collaboration occurs or is organized at three different levels of decision making: constitutional, collective choice (or policymaking), and operational (or implementation). This includes an examination of governance and advisory bodies as well as coordinating and monitoring structures.